


Snowflakes

by fallinginlove



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Eleventh Doctor Era, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Romance, The TARDIS - Freeform, doctor who - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2379290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallinginlove/pseuds/fallinginlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a lonely man travelling throught time and space, his spark slowly fading away. That is untill he meets Olivia Bells, another one of his many companions, and maybe even something more. He gets to see everything that she is, how unique, rare and beautiful can a person be, and then he watches her disappear. One of the disadvantages of living forever. You always have to move on.</p><p>A story about a strong friendship, undying love and loss.</p><p>"Are you mad?"<br/>"Yes," he smiled. "Aren’t you?"<br/>"You mean do I have a box that I teleport in?" She laughed. "No, in that case, I’m not mad."<br/>"That’s a pity. I like mad people."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I'm finally posting the first chapter, I hope you didn't have any high expectations because it's not as good as it could be. I'm currently working on the second chapter, so I'll be posting that soon as well. Please give me some feedback, comment, so I would know what you liked and so on... Anyway, this chapter is pretty short but it's the first one and I wanted it to end when Olivia meets the Doctor, while not having her there without him for too long (because we all know that would be boring), so there's that. Also, apologies for my English, it't not my native language. If you find any grammatical mistake, make sure to let me know. Enjoy!

Olivia was sure she had been staring at the man for too long without saying a word. He was trying to talk to her, she knew that, but he looked rather familiar and she wondered where had she seen him before.

Not wanting to be impolite, she cleared her throat. "I’m sorry, what was that?" She leaned a bit closer so she would hear his response. The song that was playing now was getting a bit too loud. They were at a party. It wasn’t a trashy club they were at though. No, this was quite a fancy party, she had never been to any place like this before. She was invited by her friend Nancy, who works for a magazine that organizes these kind of events. Olivia wasn’t sure whether she wanted to attend this party on Christmas day, but after all, she had nothing better to do so she gave it a go. She was wearing a black dress – it was Nancy’s, because, according to her, all of Olivia’s dresses were too unattractive. This one was rather short, what she wasn’t that used to, but hey, it’s Christmas. Her light brown-ish hair was up in a fancy haistyle and even though she spent a lot of money on the hairdresser, it kept falling into her face.

"I said, do you want to dance?" he repeated, looking a bit annoyed. His brown eyes were scanning the room, as if he was looking for someone. He quickly looked back at Olivia and smiled slightly. "I like this song." He gave her an encouraging look.

She stood still for a moment, but then nodded. They moved from the corner of the room right into the middle and he grabbed her waist softly. She laid her head on his chest and they danced to the tune, both keeping quiet for a while.

"You don’t go to parties often, do you?" he asked. It sounded very casual, as if he was sure he was right, but he was still trying to make a conversation.

This hurt Olivia a little bit, she was hoping he couldn’t tell. "Is it that obvious?" She laughed nervously. It’s not that she was unsocial or anything, she had just been so busy lately that she didn’t get to do this. To be honest, she was quite nervious coming to this party in the first place.

"No, no," he said quickly. "I mean, yes. But just a bit." He laughed. "This magazine is shit and these parties are worth nothing so don’t worry, it’s not like you’re missing out." They both stopped moving as the song changed to a different one. They pulled away.

"Thanks for... consolation, I guess." She frowned and laughed politely. She looked at her hands, not sure what to say. "So... if you think this party sucks then why are you here?" She looked up at him.

He smiled at her, his eyes softened.

"You’re looking for someone."

"Yes," he confirmed. "And I was actually hoping you could help me."

She should have known this. He was being really nice to her. Too nice. He didn’t really want to spend time with her, ofcourse he just wanted something from her. She was a bit disappointed. But to be fair, she also didn’t enjoy his company that much. "Okay," she said simply, shrugging.

"Do you know Nancy, the girl from-"

"Oh, another one?" She rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide her frustration. “Seriously, if you want to talk to her, just come up to _her_ , not _me_ , or anyone else. This is getting annoying.” She turned around to leave, but he grabbed her hand to stop her.

“Olivia, no, listen-“

She turned around. “I’m not listening.“

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes you are, you’re paying attention to what I’m saying."

She frowned.

"You look like a nice girl, but don’t act like this is all my fault. You didn’t come her to hook up with anyone, I bet that sexy dress isn’t even yours. You weren’t paying attention to me half of the time we were talking and I would be surprised if you remembered my name."

She stood still in shock. "Ofcourse I remember your name!" She raised her voice, defending herself. A second later, she realized her mistake. She did _not_ remember his name, nor she remembered him mentioning it. „It’s...“ She went silent. She could feel him looking at her, while her eyes were locked on her own feet. "Fine, I don’t remember. Sorry. But what is it with men these days, if I’m not up for a hook up then I’m not worth talking to?" She turned the situation around.

"I didn’t say that. I’m just saying... As I told you earlier, these parties are shit. If you’re looking for a serious conversation, you shouldn’t have come here." He was right. She knew he was right. "By the way, my name is Ren. I have told you before, but you weren’t listening. Which means you subconsciously knew this wasn’t going to be any interesting conversation."

"You don’t-"

"Just give yourself a break. Don’t go to parties like these if you really don’t want to go, it’s not worth it. And you know what? To be at least a little satisfied, don’t answer my next question."

She she smiled. She was starting to like him.

"Where is Nancy?" he asked.

That was the exact moment she remembered why he seemed so familiar. She had seen him last year on Christmas, but at a different party, where Nancy had dragged her, as usually. Olivia was sitting in the corner the whole time, not talking to anyone, but someone came up to her. He kept asking about Nancy. Yes, this was one hundred percent him. Oh, what a pity. Just as she was starting to like him. He certainly came here only for Nancy and she could do nothing about it.

She must had been silent for a while, because he smiled softly and said: “There you go. Thank you.”

She looked up at him, a bit confused.

“Go upstairs, there’s a really nice view from the roof. You’re gonna see the fireworks at midnight, which is," he looked at his watch, "in a few minutes."

She consedered it for a while, but then smiled back at him. „It was nice meeting you, Ren.“ She turned around to leave – second time this evening -, but then she turned back and added: "Nancy’ll be downstairs to see the fireworks, I’m sure of it." With that, she walked past him and made her way to the bar. She ordered orange juice and feeling like a little kid, she walked upstairs to the roof, taking the dring with her. She was expecting it to be crowded, but it was completely empty.

She sat down on the edge of the building and leaned to look down on the street. Everything looked so tiny from where she was now. She scanned the crowd for a minute but then found Nancy talking to someone, who she was sure was Ren. She smiled, satisfied. She looked up at the sky and had a sip of her orange juice. The December air was chill so she hugged her legs, hoping it would help. Ren was right, the view truly was beautiful. Snowflakes were falling down slowly, carried by the cold wind. Some of them landed on her, staying there long enough for her to admire their unique beauty, then disappearing forever, leaving nothing behind. New York City. On Chrismas eve. Well, not for long. She looked at her watch. It was 11:58. She looked up at the sky again and smiled. This was probably the most beautiful thing she had seen in the past year. She layed her back on the cold surface of the building and closed her eyes. If she could only capture this moment. If she could just take it, own it. And whenever she would want to, she could come here for as long as she would please. If there’s anything like heaven, she thought, this is it.

She opened her eyes, hearing the fireworks, and she sat up. The beautiful moment had gone and all it had left her was a memory. Pure, imperfect memory that was going to disappear. Like every other one. Like when you finish a movie. You get a certain feeling from it, and it lasts for a while, but then it disappears. Just like the snowflakes.

A strange sound from behind her interrupted her and she looked around. The wind was getting a stronger, so she stood up and narrowed her eyes so she could see what was causing the noise.

She would swear, that out of nowhere, a blue police box appeared right in front of her. Not believing her own eyes, her jaw dropped. She wasn’t sure of what to do, she hesitantly approached the box. Suddenly, the door opened and a tall, skinny man walked out of the box. She jumped back, but he didn’t seem to notice her, he just walked around the box. "No, no, no! I wanted to to go to medieval London, how did I get to..." he looked around. "America?" He looked disgusted.

Olivia cleared he throat.

The man looked at her and smiled happily. "Hello. Who are you?"

She frowned. "Who am I? You just walked out of a blue box that wasn’t even here a few minutes ago."

"Fair point." He tilted his head. "I’m the Doctor, and this," he pointed at the blue box. "Is the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. I wanted to go to medieval London, but she took me here, I don’t know why. Anyway," he looked at her. "Your turn. Who are you?" He frowned, trying to be serious.

She still stood there in shock, unsure of how to react. "Okay..." she started. She looked around, then back at him, to be sure she’s not hallucinating. He was still standing there, with his chin up, waiting for her to answer. "Olivia. My name is Olivia Bells. This," she pointed to her glass of orange juice that was put on the ground, "is my plane." Nerviously, she laughed at her own joke. "No, but seriously, who are you?"

"I told you, I’m the Doctor," he repeated, a bit annoyed. He looked like he couldn’t understeand why it’s taking her so long to wrap her head around this.

"Doctor who exactly?" she asked.

"Just the Doctor."

"What were you doing in a blue box?"

"Travelling."

"Where?"

"To London."

She shook her head. "Are you mad?"

"Yes,“ he smiled. "Aren’t you?"

"You mean do I have a box that I teleport in?" She laughed. "No, in that case, I’m not mad."

"That’s a pity. I like mad people."

"That’s because you’re mad."

"I suppose." They both kept silent for a moment. "You don’t believe me. You don’t think I can travel with this box." He was getting excited, Olivia could see that. He walked over to the door and opened it. "Come and see it yourself, Olivia Bells." His smile was soft and childish, and she wasn’t sure if it was the fireworks, snowflakes, or his intense blue eyes, but something made her want to have a look.

Not taking her eyes off him she came closer and walked right into the blue box. She turned aroud to see it. She remembered how she thought the snowflakes falling were the most beautiful thing she had seen this year. She was wrong. Oh, how wrong can a person be. It was just a box, she was sure of it, she had _seen_ it. It was huge on the inside. Huge, and beautiful. It was glowing, she had never seen anything like this before. It was all so overwhelming. She heard the door close behind her. "How-"

"Bigger on the inside!" the Doctor shouted, still excited. He laughed and walked over to the centre, which looked like a console and started pressing some buttons.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she ran over to him, concerned. After all, she just stepped into a wooden box that is bigger on the inside with a strange man, who claimed it can travel, and he just started pressing buttons. That sounds like travelling. This is not what she was prepared for.

"Taking you to medieval London, where I wanted to go in the first place." He pulled a lever and the ground started shaking.

Olivia had to hold on to something so she wouldn’t fall down. And she could here him laugh. She couldn’t help herself. She felt like a child, she laughed. How did all of this happen? It felt surreal.

All of a sudden, the shaking stopped. The Doctor looked at her. "I’m an alien." He waited for her to say something, but when she didn’t he continued, casualy. "You know, just throwing it out there."

"Okay," she replied, smiling. She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t trying to run away, after all, she didn’t know this man at all. _The Doctor_? That’s not even a real name. A simple wooden box that was bigger on the inside? This could all had been just a trick. A trick to play with her. But she couldn’t help herself. It was Chrismas. Maybe that’s what made her want to jump so high that noone could reach her, run so far that noone could ever catch up to her. This man may had been a trickster, but she didn’t care. He appeared out of nowhere and somehow, he had given her hope. Hope for a better life, or rather a better way of living it. How could she possibly turn that down? "So what about the midieval London you promised me?"

He laughed, his blue eyes were glowing. She could swear his smile was the most beautiful thing. "Oh, Olivia!" He ran around the TARDIS, not even looking where he was going. He knew every inch of it by memory. It looked like he was dancing. "This is just the beginning, I swear." With that, he opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here's the second chapter (I know I took some time to post it, but I really want it to be good, so I'm sorry for that). Skipping the medieval London, we get straight to another adventure with Olivia and the Doctor. This one is gonna take me two more chapters at least, I don't want to rush it and it's impossible to put it all into one - it would have to be incredibly long! Anyway, thank you everyone for reading, and for over 90 hits so far. Leave me some kudos so I know that somebody actually likes it haha ♥ Enjoy this chapter!

Olivia slammed the door shut behind her and ran over to the Doctor who was already pressing buttons on the TARDIS console, laughing. "How did you like the trip?"

She smiled and jumped from excitement like a little kid. "Loved it!"

He looked at her, with sparks in his eyes. "Where do you wanna go next?"

She didn’t answer immediately. She didn’t know. If you had all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will, where would you want to start? Ideas where running through her mind, one after another. How could she possibly choose? There were so many things she wanted to see. But she wanted to impress the Doctor, she didn’t want to be cheesy. "Where would you want to go?"

He stepped away from the console. He looked quite serious, compared to how she’d seen him so far. "I don’t care. I’ve seen almost everything, I’ve been almost everywhere. The adventures aren’t that good if you have noone to share them with." He was looking at the ground, playing with his hands. Something told her he didn’t want to look at her. "Anyway!" And the happy, smiling Doctor was back again. "Is there nothing you want to see?" He moved closer to her. "In this whole, gigantic universe... Look at me, Olivia Bells, and tell me what you want to see."

She felt like his eyes saw right through her, they were as blue as ice, but as soft as she had ever seen them. She was looking at him, and she couldn’t help but wonder: _Who is this man_? She didn’t really know him, she wasn’t sure if anybody did. He was magical. With his blue box, he was _mad_. But something made her want to trust him. "Show me something... _important_ in human history," she smiled softly, looking straight into his eyes.

"And by that you mean... what already _is_ important or what is going to be? What year was it when I picked you up?" He turned back to the console and started running around it like he always does.

"2007. Something that had already happened. Something magical and magnificent."

"You asked for it," he souted and pulled the lever. The ground started shaking and this time, Olivia wasn’t surprised. She held on to something until the shaking stopped and than she looked at the Doctor with excitement. "We’re here," he said mysteriously.

"Where?" she asked.

He walked over to the door and waited for her to be only a few inches away. "Titanic," he said. Her eyes were glowing. He knew this was the right move, she was really going to enjoy this one. "BUT!" he added, before it was too late. "We’re only here for one day and one night. We are not alowed to interfere, not this time. This is a giant fixed point in human history, so we can’t do anything or save anyone. Just for this once, we’re going to walk away before it all comes crashing down."

She could swear that she saw the weight of the world in his eyes. "Okay. No interfering, got it. Shall we go?" She smiled at him and pointed to the door.

He tilted his head. "Absolutely no interfering." He opened the door. "Welcome to Titanic!"

What she saw next was simply incredible. They were in a corner so noone could see them, but Olivia saw everyone and everything. It was just like the movie, it was wonderfull. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t even move. She was just standing there, with her eyes wide opened, looking at everything she possibly could, trying to remember every little detail.

The Doctor cleared his throad. "Could you maybe move so we can get out of the TARDIS?"

She blinked, it was like he pulled her back to reality again. But to be fair, the reality wasn't so bad for this once. She turned around to smile at him and then walked out of the TARDIS, right into a group of people talking. The Doctor closed the TADIS door and ran after her so she wouldn't get them to any trouble. By the time he came to her, he could already her her talking: "Hello there, gentleman. And here we are, on the greatest ship that ever was, could you believe-"

"Olivia! Great, here you are!" The Doctor babbled quickly, grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the group that was now openly staring at them. "Rules!" he whispered into her ear and when they were far enough so the group couldn't see them, they stopped. He turned her around.

She didn't understeand what was going on. She was just talking to people and he just came up, dragged her away and now he was just inches away from her. She looked like a scared puppy. "What is it? What's going on?"

"First of all, you do not just come to people like that, they have never seen you before and-"

"I was just making friends!" she defended herself.

"That is the second thing I wanted to talk about, you-"

"No, it's-"

"Oi!" he shouted and Olivia jumped. He moved even closer, and he looked angry now. "You listen to me when I'm talking. Understeand?"

She looked at him, worried and even a bit scared, she hadn't seen him like this before. But what did she expect? She didn't know this man at all. He seemed to be magical and exciting, but he could still be someone else. Maybe this man, looking at her so angrily, shouting and dragging her away, maybe this is who he really was.

"Understeand?" he repeated, calmly.

Why had she even ran off with him? Wasn't her life good enough as it was? This might just be the biggest mistake she had ever made. What if he's not going to let her go, not ever? Her eyes were watery now and she could feel all of the doubt she'd had inside, coming to the surface.

Seeing her like this, his eyes softened. "Olivia..." He caressed her waist, wanting to hug her, comfort her, but she moved away. He could see how scared she was. Maybe he went too far. "Olivia-"

"Take me home." She looked straight into his eyes, begging.

"It's okay, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, listen-" he was moving closer to her and she was backing away.

"Please. Please, just take me home." She stopped.

"No." he said.

She was crying by now, and was furious. "Why not?!"

"Because."

"Because what?!"

"Because I have been alone for a long time and I need someone to share this big, marvelous universe with. Because when I'm travelling alone, it's just not _it_. Not quite. Because I have seen so many things, you wouldn't believe but it's nothing, _nothing_ when I can't share it with anyone." He was gesturing with his hands, like he was trying to explain to her something that can't be explaind. Everything he had been feeling for the last few years. "Because I need people like you in my life," he added, brokenly.

She was looking at him, tears streaming down her face. "People like me?" she whispered.

"Yes," he smiled softly. "People like you. Young, kind and open minded. The _'ordinary'_. Oh, Olivia, the truth is, there are so, so many extraordinary people on this Earth, you just have to take the time to get to know them." He cupped her face with his hands, and whispered: "I want to get to know you."

"The man," she started slowly. "The man who was standing here in front of me just a few seconds ago, with so much anger inside of him."

He put his hand away from her face, giving in.

"Don't be that man."

He smiled. "The man was alone for a long time. He needs someone to help him."

"Oh, I'll help him," she laughed softly. "But promise me one thing-"

"No, you promise me this. If I ever start being that man again, stop me. It doesn't matter what it takes, just stop me."

They were both silent for a moment. "Okay," she nodded. "How about... how about we go for a walk now?" she smiled.

"I'd like that," he agreed.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"So what are your names again?"

"I'm the Doctor and this is my assistant, Olivia." The Doctor didn't hesitate for a second. Everything he did was like a well practiced play, he always knew what was the other person going to ask, and more importantly, he always knew what to answer. Since Olivia had met him, there wasn't one moment when he was surprised by anything. He was always one step ahead. And she didn't seem to mind. He was wonderful. She remembered how he told her that he was alone for a long time and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Noone should ever be alone. Not anyone. _Not him_. He was starting to grow on her and she could feel it. But she couldn't help it. Not that she wanted to. He really was magnificent. Why would it be a bad thing to get attached to someone like that? She thought about her life until the Christmas eve 2007 and she realized that she wouldn't be able to go back. What happens if you start travelling with the Doctor? The real world is not enough after that, not even close. How could it be, after all the great and beautiful thing she had seen with him? So the question is, what happens then? Does he just drop her off back on the Christmas morning 2007? She couldn't figure out how it works. After some time travelling, she woud get older, would anybody notice back at home? At the same time, she didn't want to think about it at all. But her brain was filled with all the new information and experiences she had gained, and she felt like it was switched to maximum overdrive. She couldn't stop herself from thinking, even if she wanted to.

"Your rooms are in the first class, you will get there by going up these stairs, then turning left, right, and right again. Thank you, and please enjoy your stay on Titanic." The lady in the lobby smiled at them, handing them their key and then she left.

"Oh my God! Did we just book a room on Titanic?" Olivia couldn't believe anything that was happening.

The Doctor smiled at her. "What do you think?" he said, and he handed her the key.

She was so excited that she just grabbed it and ran up the stairs in hurry. He was right behind her. They both stopped in front of a room with their number and Olivia was looking at the door with anticipation. She unlocked it with the key, and opened it very slowly. Her jaw dropped. "Wow!" She entered the room - it was actually more of an apartment. It was huge. Exactly like in all the movies. "This is-"

"Amazing! We're on Titanic, Olivia, first class!" he laughed and ran around the room, exploring everything, every little detail.

She joined him. "I _cannot_ believe this, I refuse to!"

He stopped, grabbed her hands and smiled happily. "Well, you better believe it and quickly. It's 3 pm, and the deal was that we're leaving tomorrow morning. So, believe this - I can promise you it's as real as anything!" He ran over to a huge bed it the centre of the room and jumped right on it like a child, laughing.

"You're mad!" she laughed.

"Yes, and so are you, if you're travelling with me."

"I guess I am. Yes, I'd like to think that," she smiled. "Oh! I should probably change my clothes." She looked down at her short dress, the one she was wearing at the Chrismas party. It was hard to believe it was still the same day for her.

"Nah," he said. "At least the first class ladies will have something interesting to discuss today, don't you think?"

"Shut up!"

"The closet's behing that door," he pointed to her right. "You can change, I'll wait here."

"Okay, I'll be right back!" with that, she turned around and entered the closet, closing the door behind her.

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He almost fell asleep when he heard the closet door open again. He looked at Olivia and he even forgot to say something for a moment. "Wow," he started awkwardly. "You look..."

She had her eyes opened wide, waiting with anticipation. She was wearing a dress that was partly black and party red, with lace on the top and bottom. She went all the way, she was even wearing a hat. It looked kind of ridiculous to her, it felt like a costume. But she always enjoyed wearing different things, so she was a little excited as well. She was patiently waiting for the Doctor's reaction.

"...amazing," he finally managed to say and stood up.

"Oh, careful Doctor, are you starting to like me?" she joked.

"Shut up!" he grunted. "Shall we take a walk and then have a tea with the others?" he said, trying to sound like a rich English guy.

Olivia joined his play. "Well ofcourse we shall! Would you care to open the door for me sir?"

"Absolutely, my dear!" he ran over to the door and opened it for her, gesturing. She walked out of the room proudly and waited for him to lock it behind them.

After it was locked, he turned around to give her a cheerful smile and she laughed. "We're on Titanic!" she whispered excitedly, still not quite believing it.

He just kept his eyes on hers and walked right towards her. "I know. Now let's get some tea and maybe chat with some strangers!"

"Wonderful!" she said, roleplaying a rich English woman again. "Shall we go?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally posting the 3rd chapter! This one is picking up where we left off at the end of the 2nd one (on the Titanic), so no skipping. It's a real advenure this time, so I hope it's not as bad. It was actually kind of hard to figure our what to write about and at least try to "write a good episode of Doctor who" so... Anyway, enjoy!

They were sitting in a huge dining room, at a big round table with at least ten more people. Everything around them was so shiny. Even the table. Olivia was slowly sipping her tea from a beaufiful oldfashioned cup. She was worried she would drop it by accident, she was holding it so tightly. It just felt so precious. She looked to her right at the Doctor, he was now talking to the salesman guy, the little one with grey-ish hair and gold glasses on.

"So, darling, how have you met the Doctor?" Olivia turned to her left to look at an older lady, who she was talking to earlier. She was smiling gummily, as if she was trying to suggest something.

Olivia tilted her head, not quite understeanding the question. She looked at the lady's wide smile again and then it hit her. "Oh," she laughed. "Me and him?" she gestured with her hands, pointing towards the Doctor. "No, no, no, no."

The lady frowned. "What a pity, I thought you two were a very nice couple."

They kept quitet for a moment, until Olivia spoke: "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, darling," she smiled softly, completely changing the way of talking. She sounded like a caring mother now. "I just saw you and I thought that you are a very sweet couple."

"A what?!" the Doctor turned around, staring at the lady and then looking at Olivia, surprised.

"Missis, ehm-" Olivia started, but then remembered she didn't know her name. She looked to her left, seeking help.

"Compton," the lady said.

"Missis Compton here was just saying that we look like a nice couple," Olivia explained.

He frowned. "We are not a couple, we're just traveling-"

"I know that now, darling, there's no need to get all defensive about it," missis Compton said jokingly, and the people arond them laughed.

The Doctor turned back to the salesman, embarassed, avoiding eyecontact with Olivia. "Anyway, we were talking about..."

Olivia had another sip of her tea, and then placed the cup back at the table carefully. "So why did you come to Titanic?" she asked, aiming the question to the older ladies on her left.

"I have actually never been on a boat before," one of them said. "It is very exciting indeed. I would say this is the best thing I have done in years!" she laughed.

Ignoring the feeling of guilt, Olivia turned to missis Compton. "What about you?"

She looked into the distance, lost in her own thoughts. "I just want to start over again. Titanic was like a gift from God himself for me, I couldn't stay in England for any longer."

"Why is that?"

"My husband passed away some time ago. It is going to be a year actually, in a week. I couldn't deal with it at home." She looked like she was pulled back to reality again, her eyes watery. "You must excuse me, my dear, it is not an easy thing to talk about," she faked a laugh to be polite.

Olivia put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her. "I understeand. Something like this can never be easy."

"I... I was actually quite nervous, coming here, I felt like I was running from him, you know. But now, I just think I'm slowly letting him go. I've made the right choice booking a room on Titanic, I really have. This ship is going to save me."

All of a sudden, Olivia felt like she was gonna throw up. She looked around. All of these people around her, almost all of them were going to die. Very, very soon. For the first time it hit her, this was not like a movie. This was reality, she was here, with these people who went on Titanic because it gave them hope. And she had seen it. She had seen the hope in missis Compton's eyes. And in everyone else's. They came here, chasing a better life and they were _all going to die_. In the movie, her favourite movie, they were dead from the start. But here they weren't. They were all alive, every single one of them. She felt a tear rolling down her cheek.

 _"Are you okay?"_ the voices were coming from distance. She couldn't do this, not now. She muttered something like ' _excuse me_ ', stood up and left the room as quicly as she could. She heard someone's footsteps behind her, and she was sure it was the Doctor. But she didn't stop, she ran, and she ran to the edge of Titanic. She stopped, holding onto the ship's rail, looking down at the water. Tears were streaming down her face and she was honestly terrified.

She could feel someone's hand on her own, and then she saw the Doctor standing right next to her, looking into the distant, dark blue sky.

"How can you do this? I'm clearly doing it wrong. Please, if there is a way, help me, because I can't deal with the fact that we're letting everyone on this ship _die_ just because it's a stupid _fixed point_ in the human history. I thought I understood, but now I just don't, and I don't care, but these people, they don't deserve any of that!"

He turned her around so they were standing face to face. "Olivia-"

"No, you listen to me! They came here," her voice broke, she couldn't stop herself from crying. "They came here," she tried again, "because they had hope, and with that hope they're seeking a better life. I know they're dead in 2007, I know, but _they're not dead now_. Isn't that what matters?" She begged him. "Please, please, tell me that's what matters because otherwise I'm not sure I can put up with this cruel, unfair life."

He was quiet for a while, letting her get it all out of her. "Olivia, I found something out," he smiled. "We are not leaving tomorrow morning, not by any chance, because Olivia, I found out that it was not an iceberg that stopped Titanic, it was something else."

She frowned, not understeanding. She was looking at him through the tears and shaking her head. "I don't-"

"Have you noticed anything strange in the room we were sitting at before?"

She tried to think of something. "No, no I don't remember anything."

"Think harder, I know you can, think about the doors at the end of the room, what was strange about them?"

She remembered the door, and she remembered she sensed someting strange about them, but now it hit her. "Ehm... The door, there were no people around them. Noone came even close. Noone was sitting at the tables that were close to them. But," she shook her head. "How is that supposed to help?"

"It helps, because you're not completely right. I mean, you're right, you didn't _see_ anybody sitting there, but I saw something. Some man was coming that direction and suddenly he dissapeared. But it's clever, Olivia, it's really clever," he was giving her the same childish smile again. "If I wasn't a timelord, I probably wouldn't have noticed."

"Noticed what? What are you talking about?"

"He disappeared, but he also tried to erease himself out of my memory. It's like I had never seen him at all. But I have, and then he just dissapeared completely. You know what that means? There's an invisible field in Titanic's dining room. If that doesn't sound like aliens, I don't know what does."

"So... are we gonna go there?"

He hugged her. "Ofcourse. There's an adventure, do you want to let it slip through your fingers?"

She laughed. "But what about the fixed point?"

"I don't know yet. We'll see when we know what we're dealing with, okay?"

"Fine," she nodded. She turned around, leaving him behind. "Are you coming?"

"Oh, yes!" he caughed up to her.

They entered the dining room again, and missis Compton waved at Olivia, who smiled in return. They didn't stop and made their way to the door. Suddenly Olivia felt the air change. It was cold and chilling. She turned around to see what was responsible for the change. The Doctor was right, there truly was a field and they were inside of it now, noone could see them. There were a few people around them though, ignoring them. She walked closer to one of them and tried to check it he was okay. When she was up close, she saw that something wasn't right. He didn't look at her at all, it was like she wasn't even there. She narrowed her eyes and then she saw it. He was perfect. Absolutely undeniably perfect. He had perfect skin, no pores, and she was pretty sure he wasn't even breathing. "Doctor...?"

She heard his sonic screwdriver. He clearly realized this too.

"Doctor, are they-"

"Robots." The screwdriver sound stopped. He walked over to the man she was looking at. "Switched off robots, to be precise."

"What?"

He turned around and walked to the door, where he stopped, waiting for her. When she was standing next to him, he reached for the handle.

"Wait, stop."

He looked at her. "Why?"

"Do you... do you even know what's behind that door?"

"No. That's the adventure."

She smiled. "Okay," she took a deep breath. "Good, open it."

He was gonna do it, when he stopped. "You do it."

"What? Why?"

"Just go ahead, open it," he said simply.

She thought for a second that this might had been a test. Trying not to think about it, she reached for the handle and opened the door as quickly as she could.

"Whoa, you're fast."

She smiled proudly and not getting herself disctracted, she ented the dark hallway. The Doctor was right behind her, and somehow, she felt safe knowing that. Well, at least safe enough to make a move. So she did. She took a step, then another, and another. Before she knew it, they were in the middle of the hallway and she was so sure of herself that she stopped paying attention to everything around her, which was a mistake. A figure suddenly jumped in front of her and she screamed, paralyzed. As the figure moved closer, she saw that is was one of the robots. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't think or even move. She was frightened.

"Slow down, sir!" the Doctor shouted.

What was he doing, she thought. This was not a smart thing to say.

"Do you wanna get into trouble?" he showed him his badge, the one he used at the lobby earlier, to make sure they got a room. How could this help them?

The robot looked at the badge and immediately stopped. "I am sorry, sir, my lady."

"You should be," the Doctor said, and with that, the robot walked pass them, leaving them behind.

Olivia was still in shock. "What was that? What did you show him?"

"Psychic paper," he showed his badge to her, and she could see there was nothing on it.

"It's a blank paper," she said, not understeanding anything.

"Yes, it is, but it's also psychic. I can make you see whatever I want you to see. I made him see a paper that told him we were authorized and he should leave us alone. That's what he saw, so he left us alone," he explained.

She blinked. "Wow-"

"I know."

"Okay... I guess we should keep going?"

"Yes, we should. After you?"

She took a deep breath and started walking again, this time being very careful. "Why is this hallway so long?"

"I guess it's in case anybody walked in here by accident. I think you wouldn't keep going if you saw how long this is."

"But we keep going."

"We also didn't walk in here by accident," he smiled.

"Fair point." She kept walking for a while, when she saw a door at the end of the hallway. "Look!" she pointed towards it.

"Good, we're finally getting somewhere."

They made their way to the door and stopped in front of it. "Do you want to open it?" he asked her.

She laughed, excited. She opened it, this time very, very slowly. What they saw completely surprised her. It was like a normal office, people talking, that was until they saw them. All of the people - robots - looked at them and a single one stood up from his chair. "Intruders!"

"No, no, no!" the Doctor started. "First of all, wow, you are so beautiful. I really can't take my eyes off you. If I didn't know you were robots, I would probably not believe it. Second of all, what are you doing on this ship?"

The robot stood still. "Information: This is our ship."

"No it's not. It's not, unless... Have you _built_ this ship?"

"Information: Yes."

"Why?" Olivia asked, joining into the conversation.

"Information: We need energy. Taking lives gives us energy."

"Taking innocent lives?!"

"Information: Yes. Those are the best."

"Okay, how about you let this go?" the Doctor suggested. "How about you take lives of someone who deserves it?"

"Information: Innocent lives give us more energy."

"You could take more of the ones who deserve it. You have to admit, that would be just."

"Information: This mission has already started. Titanic will be destroyed on April 14th, 10:00 pm by our submarines."

Olivia blinked. Something didn't seem right.

"You could still-"

"Information: Intruders will be destroyed." As he said it, another door opened and a robot entered the room, shooting at them.

The Doctor grabbed Olivia's hand. "RUN!"

He pulled her out of the door and she ran as fast as she could. She turned around a few times, just to see the robot getting closer. "Oh my God!" she screamed. She almost fell down a few times but he always caughed her. By the time they reached the end of the hallway, she almost couldn't feel her own legs.

They got out of the hallway, entering the part of the diner room that's still in the field and closed the door. The Doctor quickly sonicked it behind them and turned to her. "Right, any plan?"

"Get out of the field?"

"Good point," he grabbed her hand again and they came out of the field. They tried to act as normally as they could, walking fast. They ran up the stars and entered their room.

Olivia collapsed on the bed, still breathing heavily. "What do you want to do?"

He was walking around the room, thinking. "Did you notice anything strange about that hallway?"

"Yes. Maybe that it was incredibly long, practically invisible to everyone else and occupied by aliens!" she said sarcastically.

He stopped. "Incredibly long! Yes, it really was long, a little too... long."

"What?" she frowned, sitting up on the bed.

"Maybe it wasn't even on the ship. Maybe... it didn't go _along_ the ship, maybe it was leading us down. The room that we found ourselves at wasn't on the ship, it was under it, a long way."

"But we weren't walking _down_. There were no stairs and I'm pretty sure I wasn't falling."

"That's simple, there must have been fake gravity as well."

She sighed. "Ofcourse, how could that not have crossed my mind."

Ignoring Olivia's comments, the Doctor contunued. "If we could just remove the hallway from the ship itself, all the aliens would be gone and everyone would be saved."

"That's... that's actually kind of smart."

"Thank you," he smiled proudly. "Let's not waste any time. You go to sleep and I-"

"Go to sleep?!" she argued. "What do you-"

"Listen to me, Olivia, just for once." She closed her mouth, keeping quiet. "I have to figure out a way to remove the hallway from the ship and I have to create the technology in under," he looked at his watch. It was midnight. "Twenty-two hours. I can do it faster, but I need to figure out a way to actually do it. You couldn't help with this, so get some sleep and then you'll help me _do it_."

She gave up. She really was tired. It was a _long_ day. "Fine. But," she looked at him strictly. "You wake me up if anything happens."

"Deal. Okay, now go to sleep." He walked over to the bed and kissed her softly on her forehead. "Goodnight." He turned around and left the room.

Olivia sat on the bed for a while, trying to calm herself down, because she was sure she couldn't fall asleep, she still felt so awake. After a while, the adrenaline left her and she lay down. She thought she wouldn't be able to fall asleep for another while, but she was dead to the world by the time she closed her eyes.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Olivia sleepily opened her eyes. She stretched her arms and legs to wake herself up a little bit. She yawned and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. "Oh my God!" she sat up. She remembered everything: the Christmas party, the blue box appearing, the Doctor, the medieval London, ... Titanic. That's right, she was actually _on Titanic_. She looked at the clock and gasped. It was two pm. How could she had slept for that long? Wasting no time at all, she quickly changed into another dress and got out of the room, and locked the door behind her. The sun was above her head, and she was so blinded by it that she had to wait for a moment for her eyes to adjust.

Standing there, she realized she had no idea where could the Doctor be now. She knew he was thinking of a way to save everyone, but he didn't actually tell her where to meet him when she wakes up. She frowned, angry at herself for not thinking of that earlier. She didn't really know what to do now. She looked around and saw people walking past her. She made her way to the dining room, but it was almost completely empty now, except for a few men discussing some business. Everybody must had been outside. So she left the dining room and went outside, partly looking for missis Compton - the only person on Titanic that she knew.

On her way, she bumped into a woman. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

"No problem," the woman smiled.

Olivia saw that she looked different, she wasn't from first class. Not by far, she was probably from the third. Olivia hadn't spoken to anbody ouside of the first class so far and she saw this as an opportunity. After all, it was three pm, she still had about seven more free hours. "What's your name?"

The woman looked surprised that Olivia was even talking to her. "Miranda," she said kindly. "I'm sorry for asking but," she started hesitatingly. "Do you need something?"

"No, why?"

"My apologies, but why would a woman like you talk to me otherwise?"

Olivia realized how she must had looked like. She was wearing a very expensive dress and everyone was able to tell that she was living in fist class. "Because... I want to. If you don't want to talk to me, just say the word, I don't want to annoy-"

"It's okay. You're very kind."

"Thank you... I guess. Would you want to go for a walk?"

Miranda was just about to say something, when she was interrupted by a loud voice. "Olivia! Olivia!"

She turned around and saw the Doctor running towards her. He looked messy, she could even see dirt on his bowtie and jacket.

When he finally reached her, catching his breath, he grabbed her hands. "It's done. Well, partly. It's gonna be. We can skip it, I'm feeling really adventurous, aren't you?"

"Okay, slow down. First of all, this," she pointed to the woman standing next to her. "Is Miranda. Second-"

"Good! Hello, Miranda, gotta go, sorry!" He immediately turned around and ran away.

Olivia turned to Miranda. "Excuse me!" And she ran after the Doctor before he disappeared. She followed him into the TARDIS. "Why are we here?"

"I told you before - _It's done_ , meaning I had set everything up. There are miniature bombs attached to the beginning of the halway. _Partly_ , meaning they are set to explode at exactly 9:55 pm, so the robots won't have any time to figure out what's going on and stop it. And _we could skip it_ , meaning that we're going to 11:30 pm, because I don't want to wait, but I _do_ want to make sure that everything's okay," he explained, as if it was obvious.

"Fine. I trust you with this."

"Oh, you trust me with anything," he smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. A small familiar shaking started and then stopped after a while. "We're here."

"So that means the Titanic didn't sink."

"Let's find out," the Doctor ran to the door and opened it. Olivia quickly followed him, getting out of the TARDIS. The sky was dark now, but everything was okay. Everyone was alive.

Olivia jumped and squeaked. "We did it!" She threw herself at the Doctor, hugging him. "We actually did it! We saved everyone!"

He was laughing. "Yes, we did!" He picked her up and twirled.

When he put her down, she smiled at him softly. "Thank you for this."

"Well hello there, lovebirds!" they heard a familiar voice.

Olivia looked where it came from - missis Compton. She couldn't help smiling wide. "Hello! You know, there's something I want to tell you!" They were still pretty far away, so Olivia was shouting.

"Yes, darling?"

"I hope you find a better life," her eyes were watery again, she couldn't help herself. "And I hope you will be happy!"

"Thank you, my dear! And I hope you will be happy too!" she replied and kept walking her way.

"She probably thinks you're drunk," the Doctor joked.

"Doesn't matter. Shall we go then?"

"Ofcourse," he opened the door for her and then closed it, when they were both in the TARDIS. He walked over to the console. "Where to?"

Before she could answer, the ground beneath their feet shook and Olivia almost fell down. "What is that supposed to mean? You ask me where do I wanna go and then do what you want before I can answer?"

"I didn't do anything," he narrowed his eyes.

"What...?"

"I didn't touch anything, it wasn't the TARDIS shaking."

 _It wasn't the TARDIS shaking._ Something was off, she could sense it from the beginning. This wasn't right. She took a deep breath, her hands shaking. "What time is it?" She knew what he was gonna say. 11:40 pm. It must had been.

"11:40 pm. Why?"

Her legs failed her and she fell to her knees.

"Olivia, what's going on?!" he ran to her, catching her before she collapsed on the floor completely.

She felt like she couln't breathe.

"What's wrong? Tell me!" he was freaking out by now. "Are you okay?"

"We... we got it wrong."

"Got what wrong? What are you talking about?"

"Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 pm on 14th April 1912 and sank two hours and fourty minutes later," she murmured. She looked up to meet with his eyes. "We got it wrong. It wasn't 10:00, it was 11:40. All along."

He realized their mistake too. She could see it in his eyes, he was broken.

"We never saved the people. We saved them from the aliens, but not from dying." Her heart was breaking, for everyone on the ship, for missis Compton who would never get to live the new life she had wanted, for Miranda, the woman she barely knew... and for everyone else. She couldn't let this happen. There had to be a way to save them, she was sure of it. The Doctor would help her.

But he stood up and ran to the console, pressing buttons.

"What are you doing?! We can't run away!" All that she could think about were images of all the people she had seen there, _dying_ , drowning, freezing to death. She threw herself at the door, but before she could get out, he seized her from behind, not allowing her to move. He carried her like this to the console and she was screaming, tears rolling down her face. "Stop! STOP! We can't just walk away, you promised we would help them, Doctor we can't leave them-"

"Olivia, we have to get out of here, NOW!" he pulled a lever and the TARDIS started shaking.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS, YOU CAN'T!" She ran to the door again, opened it and falling on the ground before the TARDIS. She immediately sat up, moving her hands away from the snow. _Snow?_ There wasn't any snow before, she was sure of it. She looked around. They were on a building roof. It looked familiar, she blinked, trying to get rid of the tears so she could properly see. She panted. She knew where they landed.

The Doctor got out of the TADIS and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her, and she knew he was sorry.

She knew it wasn't his fault, but she didn't understrand why were they here. "Why are we in 2007 again?"

He took a deep breath. "Because you need to calm down," he said softly. "Listen, they were dead, they always were. There was nothing we could do about it. Only if we didn't show up, the exact time of Titanic's death would be 10:00, not 11:40." She jerked in his arms and he knew she was still crying. "It wasn't our fault, okay? I need you to understeand that."

They were just sitting there for a few minutes, she was sobbing and he was just holding her, not really knowing what to do.

Suddenly, she pulled out her phone and started typing something.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She didn't answer until a few seconds later, when she smiled through the tears. "I looked up missis Compton. She," she started, but her voice failed her. She cleared her throat and tried again: "She was one of the people who survived Titanic. She lived the rest of her life in America, had an affair but never got married again. She died of old age."

The Doctor kissed her on the forehead. "You see? Not everyone died."

She faked a laugh, trying to cheer herself up. "You know... before, when we came to Titanic, you said you used to be lonely. And I want you to know that I'm sorry, and I don't want you to be lonely. For someone who has lived long enough to become completely reserved and cold, you have a big heart." She looked up into his dark blue eyes. "Don't ever lose it."

He smiled brokenly. "Careful, Olivia, I think you're starting to like me," he joked, refering to her comment from earier.

"Shut up!" she laughed.

"You don't," he started, "you don't have to keep traveling with me, if you don't want to. I would understeand."

"Why would I want to stop? You are the most important thing that has happened to my in my whole life. And that wasn't supposed to sound as pathetic as it did," she laughed.

"It didn't sound pathetic at all." He hugged her tighter. "So, do you want to go?"

"Yep," she smiled and they stood up.

They entered the TARDIS and the Doctor looked at the roof one more time, narrowed his eyes, but then closed the door. It's strange, he thought he had seen _himself_ out there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about posting one new chapter every Saturday, because I want to be more organized.. Just putting it out there, so you know when to expect the next one haha. Anyway, this one is more from the Doctor's point of view, although not completely. Also it's focusing on the relationship between him and Olivia, so this time we're finally getting somewhere... I hope you enjoy! :) If you do, leave me some kudos ♥

The Doctor was alone in the console room, reading a book, waiting for Olivia to wake up. He didn't have anything to do while she was sleeping and he wanted it to be fair - he didn't want himself to have more adventures than her while they were traveling together. He didn't need to sleep, so the night was long for him. He was very happy when she sleepily appeared in the door, yawning. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" he closed the book and stood up.

"Shut up, I have a right to be tired, I just experienced Titanic on my own skin," she said grumpily. He could say she was still tired.

He sighed. "Alright, clean yourself up, princess, so we can do something fun."

"I would actually want to take a break today," she said. "I was thinking about it when I was falling asleep yesterday. And I think it's a good idea."

His hearts stopped for a moment. "Do you want to stop traveling with me?"

"No, no, oh God not!" she shook her head and walked down the stairs so she was standing in front of him. "I just want us to visit somewhere... calm, I guess. No advenure today. I'm sorry, I know this must be annoying for you, but I'm really not used to getting almost-killed by robot aliens, so..." she laughed and he joined her.

"That's not a problem. Do you have an exact location that you would like to visit for our day off?" he walked over to the console.

"Actually, I don't. Surprise me, Doctor," she turned around, ran up the stairs and then disappeared in one of the rooms.

A few minutes later, she was back in the console room, but he wasn't there. They must have had landed already. She walked out of the TARDIS and closed the door behind her. The Doctor was sitting down. They were on a grass field and she could see a lot of people around. Well, not exactly _people_. Some of them had different colors, green, blue, even pink, and some of them just looked... completely different. She sat down next to the Doctor, amazed. "Where are we?"

"Not Earth. I thought we could visit another planet. So here we are. Do you like it?"

"Yes, ofcourse," she was still looking around. "Are all of these people, I mean... Is everyone here _alien_?"

"Yes, just like me," he smiled.

"Well, sometimes I forget you're an alien," He gave her a disapproving look. "Hey, don't blame me, you're the one that looks human even though you're not."

"I don't look human!" he defended himself jokingly. "You look timelord!" he laughed.

"Do I?" she raised her eyebrows.

He looked at her, up and down. "Yes, you do."

"Good."

"Do you want to look timelord?"

"Do you want to look human?"

"I've told you, I don't look human," he sighed.

"You do to me."

He opened his mouth to object, but then realized she was right. "Fair point."

She lay back on the grass. "You know where we could go next?"

"Where?"

"2007. I don't know, it just seems so far away now."

"That's because it is far away. On Earth, it's year 3058 now."

She laughed. "You know what I mean. I know we were there yesterday, but that was just for a moment, maybe we could stay for a while."

He looked at the ground. "I can drop you off for a few days and then pick you up later if you want."

"Why? Do you have something important to do meanwhile?"

"No, I would just skip the days."

"So why won't you stay with me?"

"Because I don't want to. I always come somewhere, stay for a day or two and then disappear forever. The only thing I get attached to is the person I'm traveling with and nothing else. I don't want to stay because it would just make everything more complicated."

She thought about it for a moment. "Okay. We don't have to go."

"I told you, if you want to, I can drop you off-"

"No, it's not like I'm _dying_ to get there. I mean, it's gonna wait for me. This life is better anyway."

They were both silent for a while, until the Doctor spoke again: "Sometimes I just wish things like this could last forever."

"Things like what?" she frowned.

"You know, laying here on the grass with you, traveling with you." He realized how it sounded and awkwardly cleared his throat. " _You_ meaning anyone I would be traveling with ofcourse." He looked at her, hoping she hadn't noticed. Her eyes were closed, but she was paying attention. "It always ends and then it just breaks me for a while and I'm unable to do anything. And then someone new comes along, they help me, they make me better, and then all of it happes again, and again."

She sat up. "Well, if there's one thing I can promise you, it's that I am not going to leave you. I told you I don't want you to be lonely, so I'm going to stay with you forever, dragging you around everywhere I would possibly want to look, acient Rome, Egypt, the future, different planets. And I am never going to stop annoying you."

He laughed. "Do me a favor and remember this," he said suddenly, with a serious look.

"Oh, I will. It's you I'm worried about." He tilted his head, not understeanding what she was talking about. "You must have had so many companions, lived for so long and experienced so many different things... and you're going to experience even more. I am not going to forget this, because my life is so much shorter than yours. After I leave - I mean _if_ I leave, you're maybe going to be sad for a while, but as you said, somebody new is gonna come along and help you, and your life will keep on going. Always more adventures, new memories, more precious than this one."

"No memories are more precious than the ones with the people I care about."

"Oh, you indirectly told me you care about me!" she laughed.

"Come on, Olivia, ofcourse I care about you!" he hugged her tightly. He was so used to people sliping through his fingers, that he didn't even want to let her go.

She pulled away. "That's sweet, thank you."

"For what?"

"Caring about me," she smiled softly.

He kissed her on her forehead and lay down. She joined him, letting her head rest on his chest. She had to admit to herself, she wanted this moment to last forever too.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"Olivia! We're here!"

She immediately ran into the console room, her eyes opened wide. "Where?"

He smiled mysteriously. "It's a surprise."

"Well, I can see _that_ ," she gestured with her hands and walked over to him. She stopped just a few inches away from him, he could feel the electricity coming out of her body and her beath mixing with his own. "Tell me - where are we?"

He didn't know what to do. He caught himself staring into her beautiful green eyes, moving closer very, very slowly. He woke up from the trance and walked right pass her, turning around just behind her and then grabbing her arms from behind. He led her to the TARDIS door. "Why don't you have a look?" he whispered into her hear.

"Doctor-"

"Just have," he let her go and opened the door for her. "A look."

She was really excited by the time she walked out of the TARDIS. When she saw where they were, she turned around and frowned. "What? You took me to New York in 2007? How is that a surprise?" She was a bit angry at him. He could travel anywhere in time and space and he chose the one place she was tired of looking at.

"What do you mean?" he didn't understeand.

"You know this is where you picked me up right?" she wasn't sure he remembered.

"Yes, ofcourse, that's why we're here! You wanted to go home for a few days and I said no, but then I changed my mind, I thought you were gonna be happy. I mean, we're not going to stay for longer than a day or two - at least not me - but I'm trying to make you happy here, how about a little help?" He looked a bit angry now himself. He was angry at her for not playing along, he imagined this differently in his head.

She sighed and smiled at him, throwing her arms around his neck. He was a bit surprised at first, a hug was the last thing he was expecting her to do. But to be fair, she wasn't really a predictable person.

"Thank you," she whispered and hugged him tighter.

"Oh what, you suddenly like it?" he joked and she pulled away.

"Ofcourse I like it. I just... wasn't really expecting this. So what time is it? How long since we disappeared on the early Christmas morning?"

"It's December 26th, 12:05," he annouced.

Her jaw dropped. "No!"

"No what?"

"I had plans with my family, my aunt was supposed to come today! In fact, I'm late even now, and I promised her-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he started. "I think you're forgetting that I have a time machine, ehm, _hello?!_ " he added that last bit sarcastically, smiling. "Let's just keep this day to ourselves and we can come back for family another time, what do you say?"

She smiled at him softly. "Okay. But... where do you wanna go?"

He pretended to think, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm serious," she laughed. "What would _you_ out of all people _possibly_ want to see in 2007 New York?"

"How about some of your favourite places?" he suggested.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm serious! I would actually like to see where you like to spend your time."

"In the TADIS," she said, quite honestly. And then a snowflake landed right in between her eyes. "Oh!"

The Doctor laughed. "You looked like an indian woman for a second there!"

"Don't even start, idiot."

"Oi!"

She jumped. "What?"

"Language!"

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "I am an adult now, I think I can say what's on my mind."

He looked at her. _Really_ looked at her, for the first time. She har her light brown hair up in a bun, which was messy now, because she was running around the TARDIS since she woke up. Her green eyes were glowing. He could feel he was starting to like her. This moment was one of his favourites every time he found a new companion. The moment he realizes he had made the right choice brining them along with him. He knew she was the right choice. He smiled at her. "What's on your mind?"

"That you're an idiot," she joked.

"Oh come on, that can't be the only thing going through your head right now," he lauged. "Look around, Olivia, and tell me what you see." He was desperate to hear what she saw in the world around them. He had seen so much by now that he couldn't appreciate all the simple things, but she could. He wanted a little light in his life. _Her light_.

"I see," she looked up and smiled. "Snowflakes."

He narrowed his eyes. "Snowflakes? Is that it?"

"What? Were you expecting something more?"

"Well yes, to be honest I was."

"Why?" she asked, looking straight at him.

"I don't know."

"Don't you like snowflakes?"

"I do."

"So?"

"They're just... Snowflakes."

"No they're not! I mean, they're not _just_ snowflakes. They're perfectly unique. There isn't any other like this one, for exaple," she tapped on his shoulder, which was now covered in snowflakes. "They are so beautiful and amazing and perfect... but the thing is," she looked at him and he waited with anticipation, as if she was telling a story. "You only get to see them for a few seconds and then they disappear... forever. Which is quite sad, in my opinion. It shouldn't be like that, they're so beatiful I could just look at them all day, but instead they just give you a few secons, as if they're doing it on purpose."

"You really like winter, don't you?"

"I like every season. I actually consider summer my favourite, but I like the snowflakes, that's my favourite thing about winter."

And it was here again, he was staring into her eyes for too long. He cleared his throat. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah, sure."

They left the TARDIS and started walking around New York City. Olivia dragged him around for a while, making fun of him, because this time he completely depended on her, he had no idea where they were. They talked about anything and everything that came to their minds. The Doctor started feeling safe with someone once again. Olivia suddenly felt so precious to him. He never wanted to lose anyone, but now it was intesified, because he lived alone for a very long time. He was so happy to have someone around, especially someone like her, so young, unpredictable and fun. He just wanted to hold onto her and make sure that nothing ever gets between them. He watched her run in front of him, looking at the sky and catching as many snowflakes as she could, laughing. In that moment, he thought about everyone he ever lost. And he saw all of them in her. Hope. Yes, that was it, she was hope. That was when he decided that he was never going to let anything bad happen to her.

They ended up buying tea in some coffee shop, taking it with them and sitting on a bench outside. It was getting rather cold, but Olivia insisted on staying there and watching the snowflakes fall, even though he could see her shaking.

"You're cold." It was more of a statement than a question.

"I can handle being a little cold, sir, thank you," she joked.

He didn't even listen to her and took his jacket off, placing it around her shoulders.

"Doctor?" she looked at him, surprised and unsure of what to do.

"Yes?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Why did you just give me your jacket?" she narrowed her eyes. This made her a little uncomfortable, even though she couldn't deny the butterflies in her stomach.

"Because," he felt a bit embarrassed now. Maybe he went overboard. "Ehm, you were cold."

She looked him in the eyes and she could see he was rethinking what he just did, nervously. She smiled at him encouragingly, and he just smiled back at her, laughing a bit.

"You're not easy to please, Olivia, I give you that," he said jokingly.

She laughed. "I'm sorry. But speaking of, don't you mind just... _being_ here, in New York? You know, we're not really doing antyhing, no adventures... We're just sort of _here_."

"Why would I mind that?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I don't."

She smiled. "Good."

"Good," he repeated after her, smiling. "And what about you? Don't _you_ mind sitting here with this old man?" he gestured to himself.

She laughed. "You're not old."

He looked deep into her eyes, being serious all of a sudden. "Yes I am."

"I mean... I know, but you don't _seem_ old."

"I look-"

"I'm not talking about your looks, I'm talking about the way _you actually are_. The way you behave, the way you talk... you don't seem old. That's all."

"Oh Olivia," he smiled at her.

"What?"

"Nothing!" he laughed. "You know... Do you remember the night we were sitting on the roof, when we came back from Titanic?"

"Yes?"

"And when you told me that I was the most important thing that ever happened to you."

"Oh, don't even remind me," she blushed, embarrassed, and covered her face with her hands.

He laughed. "I want you to know that you're the most important thing that has happened to me in a few years. And to think you're so important to a thousand year old alien who gets to see one planet a day, I think you did just fine."

She couldn't help but smile and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Appearing on the Chrismas morning. Taking me with you, the Titanic and everyhing else. And for this." She looked up at him. "I really appreciate this."

They were just a few inches away. He was not sure what did it. Maybe it was the fact that he was freezing cold, or maybe it was the snowflakes, looking so magical falling down. Or maybe it was her, so perfectly beautiful. He didn't know. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't stop himself. Not anymore. He was leaning towards her, getting closer and closer. She didn't move at all, she was just looking into his eyes and glancing on his lips, while he was openly staring at hers. He could feel the energy building up inside of him, it had been so long since he had done anything like this. And he could see the sparks in her eyes. Finally, their lips touched. It was just a gentle, soft kiss, there was no passion in it. He was incredibly relieved when she kissed him back. He didn't even know what to expect from her, at all.

After a few seconds, she pulled away, cupping his face with her hand and looking deep into his dark blue eyes. "Are you mad?" she whispered.

He felt the warmth of her hand against the side of his face and he almost melted into it. He stared back into her beautiful green eyes. "Yes, aren't you?" He replied the exact same thing as he had when she asked him this the night that they had met.

She smiled. "I'm starting to think I am."

"Good," he said. "That's good, you never wanna be ordinary." He grabbed her hand from his face and held onto it. "But you're not, Olivia, you never were."

Without saying anything, she rested her head on his shoulder again and closed her eyes. They stayed like this for a few minutes, until it got colder and she felt him shaking. "Do you wanna go?" she asked.

"Not if you wanna stay."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Okay, let's go then," he stood up quickly and then ran all the way to the TARDIS, warming up.

She locked herself in her room, changing her clothes. She came back after half an hour and sat down on a couch next to the console. "You know, even though I really enjoyed today, I feel kind of bad for bailing on my aunt."

The Doctor smirked to himself a little. _She really enjoyed today_. He cleared his throat. "As I mentioned before, this is a time machine, I can promise you that you're gonna come back and spend the day with her. Just make sure you don't go for a random walk so you won't meet us, that would be awkward. Okay?"

"Okay," she nodded. "Thanks."

" _No_ problem." He was moving around the console as they were talking. "So," he raised his voice. "Where do you wanna go now?"

"Let's go to a different planet," she smiled devilishly. "You know," she started, rolling her eyes sarcastically, "I've been to a different planet before, but only once."

"A different planet it is!" he pulled the lever and the ground shaked for a little bit, as they were used to. The thing that they weren't prepared for were the lights going out.

Olivia imediately stood up from the couch. She could still see, but to be fair, who wasn't a bit afraid of the dark. They heard a scream coming from outside, and Olivia started breathing heavily. "What's behind that door?" she whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for posting this so late, but I had tons of school work these past few weeks and no time to write anything at all. Anyway, I managed to put this together, although it's quite short and it's not really doing anything for neither the plot nor the characters. But hey, it's something! So, without any longer rambling, enjoy!

The Doctor stood still for a while, not doing anything, not even _breathing_ , just listening.

There were so many things running through her head. You would think that she got used to this kind of things, traveling with the Doctor, but the truth was, she could never really get used to this. She wasn't as afraid anymore as she used to be, but she was still shaking a bit. "Doctor!" she whispered angrily. If anyone should know what was going on, it was him. Why wasn't he telling her?

"Shh!" he placed a finger to his mouth and tried to listen again. _Nothing_. He heard absolutely nothing. He looked at Olvia with annoyance. He thought he was actually gonna hear something, before she tried to make a conversation.

"What's behind that door?" she repeated with anticipation. The only thing that she was thinking about in that moment was excitement, she couldn't wait to find out.

He leaned against the console. "I don't know. We should probably go." He looked serious. Looking into her green eyes, and she could see that he tried to make her wanna leave. She was sure though, that he didn't want to go. No, why should he? He had always loved adventures, and he loved even more when something surprised him. The only thing stopping him from walking out of the TARDIS and wandering off was Olivia's safety. He wanted her to be safe, she knew that.

"We should, shouldn't we?" she tried to keep a serious look, but a smile was slowly finding it's way to her lips. If he wanted to have an adventure, then she was on board. She trusted him with her own life, no question. And he just wanted to have fun, didn't he? She didn't want to be the one stopping him.

"Yeah," he replied. His eyes were staring into hers.

They both fell quiet.

Suddenly, Olvia turned around and walked to the TARDIS door, opening them. "You're making me dangerous, Doctor, I would have never done this a week ago," she laughed and walked out of the TARDIS. "We're gonna need some flashlights!" she shouted back at him, when she saw the darkness surrounding them.

He quickly grabbed two of them and caught up to her, handing her one.

She switched it on. The Doctor was right behind her, as always, and she could feel the warmth of his body. She kept close to him, wanting to stay safe. The room they were in was rather large and it looked old. There were no windows and a few doors. Curtains that seemed to hang from the ceiling for no apparent reason were raggedy and the floor was covered with dirt. This definitely wasn't a place that the Doctor wanted to take her to. She wondered what could have brought them here.

"Oi!" he whispered into her ear. "Look at the door." He pointed right in front of them.

She stared at the door. Nothing was moving and everything was quiet. She was getting a bit annoyed. "Yeah, and? It's just a door." She turned around. "Doctor, I don't think anybody's here. Maybe this is just some abandoned planet and _maybe_ the fact that the TARDIS brought us here was really just an accident."

"The TARDIS never takes me anywhere by accident," he frowned, offened and walked right past her, going closer to the door.

She caught up to him and stood right in front of him. She raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah? It took you to me by accident, remember? New York on early Christmas morning, 2007?"

"Well, I met you, so it wasn't an accident, was it?"

She shook her head. "Sure, like we were meant to meet."

"Maybe we were."

She leaned her head, thinking about what he just said. Suddenly, the door that Doctor was pointing at a few moments ago flew open and both of them jumped. Olivia squeaked and grabbed his hand instinctively.

"What the hell was that?" she whispered.

"Quiet, I think something heard us."

Everything was silent. This scared Olivia even more. Even though she was pointing at the door with her flashlight, she didn't see anyone who could possibly open it. The Doctor took a small step forward, still holding her hand and dragging her with him. They moved only a bit, when something appeared in the door. The figure looked nothing like human, she thought, it must had been an alien.

The Doctor immediately backed down and pulled Olivia behind him. This way, if something tried to attack them, he would be the first to get hurt. She didn't understeand what was going on, she hadn't seen him react like this to anything they had faced so far. He looked terrified.

"Ex-ter-mi-nate!" the creature said - it was more of a desperate scream. It was a robot.

"What are you doing here?!" the Doctor shouted.

"Doctor!" the creature said.

"Yes, it's me, I would say I am pleased to meet you, but I would be lying. What are you doing here?"

"This is a Dalek planet now!"

"Howcome? When did that happen?"

"A long time ago!"

The creature - dalek - was moving closer to them. Olivia didn't know what to do, because she didn't know what exactly this robot wanted from them and how dangerous it was. She could only guess, looking at the Doctor's reactions, that it was rather dangerous. "Doctor," she panted. "I think we should run."

"Good point," he replied, and holding her hand, he started running in the opposite direction, away from the dalek.

They could hear it following them, chasing them.

Olivia turned around to see where it was, and while she was not looking forward, she tripped and fell down.

"Olivia!" the Doctor immediately stopped and helped her, then turned around and started running again.

She was out of breath already, she couldn't go on for much longer. She followed him, but was getting slower every second. He was far away now. "Doctor!" she shouted. He didn't turn around. He probably didn't hear her, she thought. She looked over her shoulder to look where the dalek was and saw it only a few steps behind her. She screamed and started running again, but the creature had her. She could feel something against her back, like a plumper. She stood still, catching her breath. She could feel her eyes getting watery. Was this it?

"You will come with me!" the dalek said, with the same angy voice.

"What if I refuse?" she asked with a quiet voice, trying to protest.

"You will come with me!" it repeated.

"But what if I refuse?" _What would the Doctor do now?_

"Then you will be exterminated!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------

She woke up in a room full of daleks. The last thing she remembered was walking somewhere with one of them, when she felt something going through her back, and then she blacked out. She looked around. The Doctor wasn't there. The dalkes were quiet, as if they were waiting for something. She was scared. More scared than she had ever been. She had been terrified before, especially traveling with the Doctor, but this time was different. Because this time _he wasn't here_. This time, it was all up to her. What if he had left? That could had happened. She saw how afraid he was of these... robots, maybe he just ran off. Maybe he had left her, to die, or to take care of herself. And maybe this was it for her, maybe she would really die here. She could feel tears streaming down her face. She didn't want to be afraid, but how can you control something like that?

"Where-" she started, but her voice failed her. "Where am I?"

Nothing. Nobody answered her.

"Hello? Can... can you here me?"

Silence.

She stood up. It took her a lot of strength to do that. Whatever made her black out earlier must had really hurt. Her whole body was weak. She slowly walked towards one of the daleks. It looked like it was switched off. She knew she needed to get out of there. That was her only chance. She didn't know what did they even want with her, but she was sure it wasn't anything good. Not anything worth risking her life for. Maybe, if she could just walk right past them all, and she would get out of the-

"You will sit down or you will be exterminated!"

She jumped. The dalek was turning towards her. "Okay," she backed down. "Fine, I'll sit down." She did as she said, not taking her eyes off it. She needed to figure out a way to stay alive. But at the same time, she wanted to know why were they keeping her here, what was their purpose. "Why am I still alive, then? If you have no problem with killing me?" she started carefully.

"The Doctor will come to save you!"

She laughed. This whole situation was ridiculous, yet she was so desperate. "The Doctor will not, sadly. Do you see him anywhere?"

"You want to be exterminated!"

She took a deep breath. She knew - if she went overboard, they really had no problem with killing her. She needed to be careful, but quietly sitting there in the darkness wansn't gonna help her at all. "I want to be left alone. Let me go."

"No!" it answered without hesitating.

"Why not? Why do you need the Doctor?"

"That is none of your concern!"

"Well thank you for telling me what I should worry about," she was getting angry. "Let me go. You know the Doctor is not gonna come here, and what will you need me for then? You can just let me go now and save yourself the trouble.""

"And where would you go?!"

"Away from here," she narrowed her eyes. Was there something she was missing?

"And how, may I ask?!"

That's when it clicked.

"If you truly believe that the Doctor has gone, then you have no way of getting away! This is our planet! Even if we let you go, you are still going to be a prisoner here! You have no way of escaping!"

She started to panic. It was right - the dalek was right. The Doctor was her only hope, otherwise there was no way of getting away, _ever_. "Why-" she cleared her throat. "Why can't you just take me home?" She was desperate.

"Why would we?!"

The answer was so short, so obvious. Ofcourse, _why would they_. They're aliens, her enemies, the Doctor's enemies. They didn't seem to have any sympathy at all, there was no way of persuading them to take her home. Even if they _would_ let her go, she would still be stuck on a planet full of daleks. She was in no way a genius. She couldn't build herself a spaceship or anything. The only person that would ever be able to help her was now probably a long way away.

"Please," she whispered. Then she realized that the only way that she could make them help her was by threat. She stood up, her weak legs shaking. "You WILL take me home."

"Or what?!"

"Or the Doctor..." she wasn't sure what to say. "The Doctor-"

"The Doctor what?!"

"He's gonna come back for me. I promise you that and when he does, he will _destroy_ you. He will destroy everything you are. Is that worth it?"

"He will not destroy us! We will destroy him!"

"For all I've seen, and I've seen enough, he's the smartest man in the universe. He _is_ going to find a way to bring you down."

"You are sure he will come to save you! A moments ago you weren't!"

"Yes I'm sure, perhaps I was lying," she gave them a devilish smile. She stared into the daleks 'eye'. " _And you will burn._ "

Suddenly, a lightning escaped the robots 'hand' and it hit her. She screamed, this was the most pain she had ever felt in her entire life. It went through her whole body, touching every last bit of her. She felt like it had been minutes before it stopped. When it finally did, she collapsed on the floor and moaned, trying to stay conscious. She felt a liquid streaming down her lips. She touched it with her hand and then pulled it away to look at it - blood. It must had been from her nose. She sat up, very slowly, and blinked. She couldn't even properly see. Everything was going black. She was more than certain that this was it - the way she's going to die. Surrounded by aliens, without anyone she cares about. Without anyone who cares about _her_.

The door flew open in the moment she least expected it. The world was slowly fading away, but something caught her eye. The Doctor was suddenly right in front of her.

"Olivia, hold on for a second, just stay with me, hold on," he said quickly and then turned to the daleks. "Okay, I'm sure this was your plan, me comming here. So, what is your big plan, ha?! TELL ME!"

That was the last thing she heard, before everything went black.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

She could hear the TARDIS landing. Or talking off, she wasn't sure. The only thing she knew, she was safe in the TARDIS. She slowly blinked and sat up. She was on a couch in the console room. The Doctor was leaning against the console, his back facing her. He was completely quiet, not even moving. She just sat there, thinking for a while. He looked so sad. He was never quiet, at least she hadn't seen him like this before. Had she done something wrong? No, the last thing she could remember was her being captured by the daleks and him coming to save her. She looked down at her hands. She didn't make a sound, not wanting to break the silence. The Doctor sighed. What if he was going to drop her off? She didn't want to go back, ofcourse she didn't.

He turned around and saw her sitting up. "Hey," he started quietly. "You're up."

"Yeah."

Awkward silence.

"Are you gonna drop me off?" she asked desperately.

He frowned. "No! No, why would I do that?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what happened, I blacked out. _Again_."

"Yes. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I- I was in the room with the daleks and you came in. You said something... ehm... I think you told me to ' _stay with you_ ' as in 'don't black out', which I did. Sorry."

He laughed and walked over to her. "You don't have to apologize, it wasn't your fault."

"What happened?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, when I blacked out, what happened then?"

He cleared his throat. His expression was suddenly so serious. He looked down. "Nothing, really."

She stared at him for a while. Maybe he just didn't wanna tell her. But she still wanted to know. "Come on," she smiled, trying to cheer him up.

"No, Olivia, nothing happened."

She narrowed her eyes. She was still looking at him, while he was avoiding eye contact. "Why are you lying to me?"

He finally looked up at her. "I'm not lying to you. I'm simply not telling you, because I don't want to talk about it, that's all."

"Well, I'm asking you to talk about it. To me."

"Listen, daleks are my weak spot. I hate them, I hate them more than anything. I've done _something_ , but I'm not talking about it. Not ever, okay?"

She thought about it for a while. "Okay," she finally said. "You know... in that room with them... for a moment, I thought you ran off and left me," she laughed nervously, trying to cover up the feeling she got when she even thought about it.

"Olivia," he cupped her face. "I would never do that. You're like... a snowflake," he smiled softly. "My own snowflake."

"You mean like... I'm so pale and little?" she joked.

"You know what I mean. You're here with me and I get to see everything you are. And maybe one day you'll leave me, just like everybody does. But in the mean time, I just want to enjoy the fact that you're here, so beautifully unique."

She slowly leaned towards him. Their lips touched. She wondered if he did this with everyone he traveled with. But that didn't stop her. His lips were like paradise to her. When they pulled away, she looked him in the eyes. "How does one get used to traveling with you, and then gets back to living their life again? It's so normal, so... boring, after _this_."

"Well, _one_ can find someone that makes them happy, and they will want to stay with them, eventually."

"I don't think I ever will."

"I would be very happy if you just stayed with me forever, Olivia," he laughed.

"Can I?"

"What, stay with me forever?"

"Mhm."

"You can stay with me as long as you want to. And I promise you that I'm never gonna let anything bad happen to you, _ever_. I swear, okay? If you ever find yourself in a situation like that one with the daleks, alone, know that I'm coming to save you. I would never leave you alone."

She could feel butterflies in her stomach. "Okay," she smiled.

He gave her a quick kiss, before turning to the console. "Where do you wanna go next?"

"Surprise me, Doctor."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, this chapter might be a bit more complicated, so I'm sorry for that. I hope I could explain everything so you guys would understeand. Anyway, to the story: we're skipping one year, so this is kind of like the Doctor and Olivia's little "anniversary" I guess you could say. I hope you enjoy :) Also thanks a lot for the 279 hits, I didn't see that coming. I hope I'll find the time (& ideas) to write the next chapter soon enough!

"Wow. I can't believe it's been _one year_ ," Olivia was running and jumping around the console, following the Doctor. "Can _you_ believe it? It has gone just like _that_."

He was flying the TARDIS, trying to pay attention to Olivia, but failing horribly. "Yes, ofcourse, it's in the living room."

She narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" she stood between the Doctor and the console, so he would have to look at her.

"What?" he repeated. Rolling his eyes, he changed the subject immediately. "Look, if you don't move now, we'll crash." He gave her a quick smile before walking right past her and focusing on the buttons again.

"Doctor!" she ran over to him. "Come on, we need to celebrate! One year! _Pleaaaaase_!" She looked at him with her big puppy eyes, trying to get his attention again. When he kept ignoring her, she pulled a lever that was at hand and the shaking stopped.

The Doctor looked up at her, frowning. "How the hell did you do that?" He looked at her, up and down, and then stared at the lever.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, I've been traveling with you for some time now, and this is one of the few things that I have actually noticed."

"But we're not moving, we stopped. We're just... hovering in the universe," he couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that she was actually _flying the TARDIS_ , even if just for a little bit. He never showed her. Not that he didn't want to - not that either of them didn't want to. It was just... all he wanted to do was to take her anywhere she'd want to. He felt like it was his duty. He was the driver. She was the guest, the traveler.

"You do this all the time!" Olivia defended herself. She was getting annoyed at the fact that he thought she hadn't picked up  _anything_ during their time together.

"I know, but you don't!"

"Well now I do."

He kept his eyes on her, studying her for a couple of seconds and then smiling widly. "One year, Olivia."

"One year!" she yelled and threw her arms around his neck.

He hugged her back, holding on tight. "It just flew by, didn't it."

"Yep. Time flies when you're having fun," she pulled away from the hug. "I'm so happy that you appeared on the Christmas morning. I am _so happy_ that something went wrong with the TADIS and you landed there."

"Me too," he smiled. And he really ment it. She had grown onto him so much. She was his green-eyed unpredictable jumping-around-all-the-time little  _snowflake_. "Oh, one year!"

"One. Year!" she laughed and he joined her.

"Okay, so we've been to different planets," he turned on his heel and walked around the console, smiling childishy and looking straight into Olivia's eyes. "We've seen different worlds, races, people, _aliens_ ," he pressed a few buttons on his way. "We have saved so many species." And then he stopped right in front of her. "What shall we do today? Anything special on your list?"

She could see it in his eyes, he really wanted to amaze her. He had always been so... theatrical. Even though there were millions of things and ideas going through her mind, she decided to go with the one that popped into her head the first. "I'm thinking... New York?"

He narrowed his eyes. New York was the last thing he had expected. "What year?" She couldn't had possibly want to go to 2007. Or could she?

"2007," she assured him.

"But that's when I picked you up, that isn't anything special. I want our little ' _anniversary_ ' to be amazing."

"With you, that would be special. Like you said - we've been to so many different places, I just feel so far away from home. Come on, I just want to check up on my family, see what they're up to. I don't even have to talk to them. I promise I'll stay away. Please?"

He rolled his eyes. She knew she had won him over. He just couldn't say no to her. "But I thought your family didn't live in New York."

"They don't, but they always come a few days after Christmas so we can celebrate together. Let's say... December 30th?" she smiled playing with his bowtie.

"You know we always move around that same time. Don't you wanna pop in a few years later?" he teased her.

It sounded tempting. _Very_ tempting. Who wouldn't want to see the lives of their family and friends in a few years? Maybe, with a little luck, even a life of their own? "Sounds good. It sounds really good, actually. But!" she looked up into his eyes, leaving his bowtie alone. "It's still gonna be December 30th. And make it a snowy one."

"Oh, you and snowflakes. You never get tired of them, do you?" he kissed her forhead and turned his attention to the console again.

"Nope," she chuckled. "So, what year?"

"I don't know, it's up to you," he looked into her eyes with anticipation.

She thought about it for a while. She didn't want to go too far, but she also didn't want to be just one year in her own future. "2010 maybe?"

"2010 it is!" he pressed a few buttons as usual, puled the big lever she knew so well and, after the familiar shaking of the ground, they landed. He glanced at her, then grabbed his coat and ran out of the TARDIS. She couldn't even grab her own coat when she heard him shout. "It's a snowy one! Ugh, it's _freezing_ out here!"

Olivia put on her coat and caught up to him, closing the TARDIS door behind her. They were in the exact same place as they landed a year ago. Well, in 2007. It had brought back all the memories. She looked up at the falling snowflakes and closed her eyes for a moment, letting them land on her face and melt right away. She opened her eyes again. Looking around, she noticed that nothing had really changed that much in three years. She didn't know what she expected. Maybe flying cars. Or buildings made of glass, including the floor and the furniture. She glanced at the doctor and caught him looking at her. She couldn't help but smile at that. "Nothing has changed. I mean, not _really_."

"Do you wanna go further?" he suggested.

"No, that's okay. I still want my grandma to be alive," she laughed at her own joke. "...no?" she added, after a few seconds of an awkward silence. He probably didn't get it.

"What?"

"Nevermind. Anyway, it's," she glanced at a big watch placed above an entrance to a cafe. It was probably a new one, she didn't recall seeing it here the last time they were in New York. "4pm. We have a tradition, my family should be in the central park right now... somewhere. It's usually crowded, so it could take us a while to find them. Or us. I mean them. This is confusing," she shook her head. "If I ever decide to go back to my normal life again and you would, you know, drop me off where you picked me up... hypotheticaly, ofcourse." It hurt her to even talk about it so openly.

" _Hypotheticaly_ , you would go back to your normal life and if you were lucky, nobody would notice anything," he explained. "So yes."

"Yes what?"

"I assumed your question was if it's possible for you to see yourself in the central park with your family. If that truly was the question, than the answer is yes, it's definitely possible."

"That was the question," she sighed. They left the TARDIS behind and started walking towards the central park, which wasn't far away. "But... if this happened for me... I mean what's happening right now - it must had happened for the version of me that will be sitting in the central park with my family, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Which means that version of me knows we're coming. And, considering the fact that she's _me_ , I think she's gonna want to talk to us. At least I would want to, if I, _hypotheticaly_ , ever left you, I would want to talk to you if I knew you were coming."

"Then we'll talk to her... or to you. We'll see, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, we haven't even found anyone yet."

As he said it, they entered the central park. Olivia was looking around to see anyone she knew. "That would be awkward," she murmured, not really paying attention to what she was saying.

"I'm sorry?" he was following her. He never saw anyone from her family, so he couldn't help her look.

"I mean, talking to myself, _literally_. That would be awkward." She chuckled a bit. "What has my life become that these sentences actualy make sense."

They kept walking for a few minutes, Olivia leading the Doctor through the park. They were speeding up every now and then so they wouldn't be as cold. The wind chilling. Suddenly, Olivia grabbed his hand excitedly. "I can see them!" A happy smile was making it's way to her lips. "There, look!" she pointed her finger towards a group of people. There must had been a dozen of them, the Doctor thought. An old couple was sitting down on a bench with a little kid, he must had been around six years old. Two teenagers - a girl and a boy - were running around the bench, chasing each other and four people - probably two couples - stood nearby. He saw a woman, with light brown hair talking to a man, who was holding a baby. He was sure it was Olivia's mother. They were still far away though, so the Doctor pulled Olivia's hand to get a closer look.

She followed him without a question. They moved a bit closer. "That kid sitting on the bench, that's Toby. Last time I saw him he was three years old!" she mumbled to the Doctor, not taking her eyes off the group. "Oh, they grow up so fast."

He chuckled. "Is that your mother?" he pointed at the woman who looked like Olivia.

"Yes," she answered, but before she could say anything else, she could see her break down crying. "What's going on?" Olivia automatically took a step forward, but he pulled her back.

"You can't go there, you're their _daughter_ , remember?" he was staring into her green eyes. "Maybe the future version of you just isn't here right now, but you can't walk over there looking several years younger."

"She's _crying_ , what do you expect me to do, just stand here and watch?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, that is exactly what I expect. You're gonna stand here, while I go there and ask about it." Before she could stop him, he was already walking towards the group.

"Doctor!" she whispered, but he was too far away to hear her. She rolled her eyes, she was so angry at him. What was she supposed to do now? She quickly hid behind a tree and watched him as he walked over there and talked to the man who was comforting her mom. They were talking, but there were so many people around her that she couldn't hear a word. She nervously bit her lip. The Doctor sat down to her mother, who was now a bit more calm. He talked to her for a few moments, when Olivia saw the most hurting look on his face. By now, she had seen him scared, angry, happy, amazed and even a bit in love, but she never saw him hurt. Not like this. She frowned and looked around to see if anyone was watching her. She took a step towards them, but then shook her heand and hid behind the tree again. She couldn't just walk there, after all. So she just kept her eyes on him. He was quiet, while her mom was talking and he kind of seemed like he was not even listening to her. He stood up, without any sign and walked towards Olivia. A few people were turning around to see where he was going, so she turned her back on them and waited for the Doctor.

He approached her and walked right past her without saying a word.

"Doctor!" she caught up to him, but he kept walking and she had to run a bit in order to not be left behind. She followed him through the crowded streets of New York, bumping into people. She thought several times that she had lost him, but luckily he was always right in front of her. She could feel herself getting tired of walking, not to mention she was freezing cold. She didn't even pay attention to the snowflakes surrounding them. Her breath was getting heavy. "Doctor!" she called out. He wasn't listeting to her at all. He just kept walking and walking... until he finally stopped.

She caughed up to him. She looked around, trying to figure out where they were. A cementery. They were in front of a cementery. "Doctor? What are we doing here? What is going on?" There were so many things running through her mind. None of them was good. Not one. Why could they possibly want to be in a cementery?

Ignoring her question completely, the Doctor entered it. Olivia was right behind him. "Listen, you've got to talk to me," she kept speaking to him. What could be so horrible that he couldn't even tell her? "Please, tell me what's going on," her eyes were getting watery. She dragged her legs to follow him, but the truth was she just couldn't keep going. She stopped. He must have known. He must have heard the footsteps before and now they were gone. " _Doctor!_ " she shouted desperately.

He stopped. And did nothing. Nor did he say anything. Silence. He wasn't even moving.

She took a deep breath. "Please," she started with a shaky voice, "talk to me. I have no idea what's happening. I don't know if I've done something wrong," she took a break, but he didn't react. He was standing completely still. "Or maybe I haven't, I don't know. Just tell me, please, tell me what's wrong."

He finally turned around, very, very slowly. She couldn't read his facial expression at all. She thought she would be able to know what was wrong the moment he looked at her, but she didn't. He looked deep into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm so, so sorry."

She waited for a moment. Wasn't he gonna say something more to it? He kept silent, his sad eyes piercing into hers. "Sorry- sorry for what? What are you talking about?"

"The woman... the woman I was talking to - your mother, ehm," he coughed. He was being very careful about every word he said, she could see that.

"Yes," she encouraged him to continue.

"I asked her what was wrong. She told me," he moved towards Olivia. He was only inches away. "She told me her daughter had gone missing three years ago. They consider her dead."

For a few moments, it was like she blacked out. She wasn't sure whether she heard him right.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Olivia, but you never came back. Three years ago, it was 2007, that's the year I picked you up. You hadn't come back, which means you couldn't. Maybe... maybe you just got too old, traveling with me," he joked, trying to ease the situation. "Maybe, if you came back, it would be clear to everyone that you had been gone. Maybe we spent a lifetime together!" he tried smiling brokenly.

She just kept looking at him. "Or maybe I just," she sobbed quietly. "Maybe I didn't come back _yet_."

"That's not the point, Olivia. If you came back already or if you _ever_ would come back... in my world, that's the same thing. You _would_ be here."

"But that doesn't make any sense," she shook her head. "How could I be here if I hadn't come here yet?" She groaned. There was just too much information and her brain was working so much slower than usual. "This is getting over my head."

The Doctor gestured with his hand, trying to find a way to explain it to her better. "Time is not a straight line, you know that. If - in the future - you ever were to come here, _ever_ , you would be here _now_. I'm sorry, but you never returned."

She swallowed hard. _She never returned_. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you couldn't come back. Or, more precisely, you will not be able to return, in the future."

"Okay, keep going," she encouraged him, when she saw that he was waiting for her approval to continue.

He nodded. "That means you either got old, that we traveled together for a few years and it started to show so you couldn't come back. Or..."

"Or I died," she said quickly, trying to show to emotion at all.

He stared at her for a while, figuring out how much hurt she really was. "That's the other option, but I like the first one way better, so how about we focus on that one?"

"Why did you bring me here?" she changed the topic.

"You wanted to have a look."

"No, I mean the cementery. Where is- where is my grave?"

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, but then turned around, leading them to her gravestone. It wasn't far away. It wasn't on a hill, or anywhere in the middle, like she'd like to imagine. It was ordinary. _Too_ ordinary. It was surrounded by a couple of other gravestones with names carved into them. She couldn't believe it. After her extraordinary life - this was her memory? She sat down in front of it and read: ' _Olivia Bells, forever in our hearts. 1984 - 2007_ '. There were lots of flowers layed down on her  _"grave"_  and she counted eighteen candles burning. Someone must had come here not long ago.

"Is this it?" she mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

She heard sadness in his voice. He was standing right behind her, not doing anything. "Is this supposed to sum up my life?" she laughed brokenly.

"No," he replied simply. "In the end of the day, the gravestone is just a stone. It's not supposed to give any justice. It's the minds of those who you left behind that are giving you justice. They remember you as a person, they remember what you did and what you were like. This stone has nothing to do with it."

"But they don't... know."

"About what? Us? That you traveled the universe with a mad man?" he sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. "Oh, I think they wouldn't believe a word, Olivia."

She smiled, her eyes were getting teary. "Who's left to remember that?"

"Me. And I will, always."

She stopped staring at the gravestone and looked up into his eyes. "What if I wanted to go home now? Would you drop me off?"

He hesitated for a moment before carefuly saying: "Ofcourse I would, if it was up to me. But I can't. If you went back now, you would never have gone missing, which means none of this would be happening. No gravestone, no mourning family. And nothing to make you wanna come back in the first place. That would create a paradox."

"But if I go home, none of this will ever happen, as you said. I'll still be alive here, with my family."

"Exactly, which means what's happening now, _right now_ , wouldn't happen. The conversation that we're having right now over your gravestone wouldn't happen, because your gravestone wouldn't be here. That means you would never make the decision to come back."

She slowly rested her head on his shoulder. "So, you're saying that I can't go back?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, actually, it is. If I never landed on the roof of the building on the Christmas morning, you would live your life happily, normaly."

"I told you countless times before that I'm happy you showed up, and I wouldn't change that. I wouldn't give that past year away for _anything_."

They kept quiet for a while. Olivia wasn't really sure what to say. She still didn't understeand what all of this meant. "Doctor?"

"Hm?"

"So... what are my options now?"

He took a deep breath. "I can drop you off to live a normal life. Wherever and whenever you want to. Except here and now."

"Okay, what's the other one?"

"Or you can keep traveling with me. Listen," he pulled away to look into her eyes. "I would understeand if you wanted to have a normal life. I won't blame you, I swear, I-"

"I don't want you to drop me off. I wouldn't know anyone, anywhere. The only person left for me in the universe is you."

"That makes two of us," he laughed. "You know you can still have a long life, right? This doesn't mean that you die soon. It just means that you won't come here, that's all."

Olivia quickly stood up. "You know what, I'm tired of this. Let's go back to the TARDIS, please."

"Are you sure? If we go away, you have to promise me we won't come back. I don't want to mess with your timeline even more than I already have. It could be dangerous."

"Okay, I promise. Let's leave and never come back. How about that?" she faked a flirtatious smile.

"Agreed," he played along and stood up. He took her hand softly into his and led her out of the cementery, through the city and to the TARDIS. He opened the door and waited for her to look around New York for one last time before stepping inside. He followed her, closing the door behind them and walking over to the console. He pressed a few buttons and they took off.

"If you don't mind, I think I should get come rest," she said quietly, pointing upstairs to the room where she had been sleeping.

"Ofcourse, go," he nodded and smiled at her softly.

He waited for her to leave the console room before he sat down on the couch and put his face in his hands. He knew something like this was bound to happen. Whenever he started traveling with someone, he let them get under his skin and the same happened with Olivia. He cared about her, so much. That's why he lied to her at the cementery. He knew something bad must had happened. He knew he couldn't just drop her off now, because that surely wasn't the reason she hadn't come home. And he also knew the rules. The future version of himself knew them as well. If they start growing old, you drop them off, so they could keep living their normal life. If she hadn't come home just because she got old, the future version of him would give him a sign. No. Something bad must had happened. Or, more precisely, something bad _will_ happen.


End file.
